People For the American Way

Right Wing Watch Weekly COVID Roundup 5/22

WASHINGTON, D.C.— People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch program is monitoring right-wing reaction to the coronavirus crisis on a daily basis. Below is our new weekly roundup of blog posts illustrating how the right’s responses continue to fall into five major categories:

Dismissing and Downplaying the Threat;

Distracting Americans with Conspiracy Theories and Finger-Pointing;

Pushing the Team Trump Line, Whatever It Is;

Making the Most of It / Shameless Opportunism; and

Playing God and Portraying Trump’s Actions as Part of a Divine Plan.

These categories are identified by researcher Peter Montgomery in his piece, “Tactics From the Right-Wing Playbook on COVID-19.” Here is the latest RWW reporting on right-wing activities related to each of these categories, including some tweets/video. Note that some items are included in more than one category.

Tweet: DeAnna Lorraine thinks it would be a good idea to design and sell a t-shirt that seemingly suggests that COVID-19 contract tracers should be shot.Tweet: Dinesh D’Souza has racked up 13K+ retweets and 46K+ likes with this doctored image.

People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity. Learn more: http://www.pfaw.org.